Bruins’ offense fizzles as they lose in OT to Senators, 3-2

Round one of the goalie battle between Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark went to the Ottawa Senators and Ullmark on Saturday night at the Garden.

Ullmark can thank his old Bruin teammates for much of that.

In a 2-2 game, the Bruins got zero shots on net in the third period and then, after forcing Ullmark to make one great save in overtime on a 2-on-1 on Elias Lindholm, Brady Tkachuk beat Swayman on a 2-on-1 just 21 seconds into OT.

It is the first time they were held shot-less in a third period since Dec. 21, 2006 in a 2-0 win over Vancouver. It is somewhat understandable not getting any shots when you’re up and trying to salt away a win, but not when you’re locked in a tie game.

As we inch toward Thanksgiving, the B’s are a perfectly mediocre team at 7-7-2.

Coach Jim Montgomery was in the interview room quickly after the game but he didn’t have many answers. He was asked what was preventing his message from getting through.

“It’s up for you guys to figure that out and come up with a reason,” said Montgomery, who said he does believe his troops are still listening. “We just weren’t good enough. You guys can write what the malaise is on the team and what’s gone wrong. We’re just not playing good enough.”

Montgomery mentioned a lack of intensity in the third period. His captain concurred.

“We have to look internally, and understand we need to be accountable and better in areas throughout the game” said Brad Marchand. “We need to expect more from ourselves. I don’t think you can point at Xs and Os. It’s got to come from will and determination at this point.”

Ullmark was the center of attention as soon as he stepped onto the ice for warmups. After getting a sizable cheer from the Garden fans who’d come in early, he skated to the red line for a muted hug with his old buddy  Swayman, then the two posed for team photographer Steve Babineau for a quick shot.

In the first TV timeout, the B’s gave Ullmark the customary video tribute on the Jumbotron and the netminder glided out to the middle of the blue line to show his appreciation.

“It was a lot. I’m not going to lie, it was a lot,” said Ullmark of the emotion. “In warmups I had goosebumps going out there and hearing the crowd. Also, just getting a win in this barn is not easy. It’s something that you dream of, especially when you come in here as opponents. You really want to bring your A game.”

Said Swayman: “It’s incredible to see the fan base just support us so much and what we created together. And to just know it’s never going to be created again in hockey,  that’s something we’ll always share and have.”

As for the hockey in the opening 20 minutes, it was rerun of much of the season for the B’s – they lost the special teams battle and went down 1-0 in the waning seconds of the period. The B’s were sloppy on their breakouts, committing eight giveaways. The Sens also owned the faceoff circle, winning 17 of 23 draws.

But both Ullmark and Swayman looked locked in for the anticipated battle as they both had to make a couple of good saves.

The game tilted in the Senators’ favor late in the period. The B’s got the first power play when Tkachuk slashed Charlie McAvoy but the B’s could not solve Ullmark.

When the Sens got their chance after Elias Lindholm interfered with Josh Norris at 18:27, Norris made them pay. Tkachuk made a great pass from the corner through Nikita Zadorov’s skates to an open Norris just below the right circle. He picked the top far corner and beat Swayman with 7.8 seconds left in the period.

The B’s started the second period with a painful blast from the past – a too many men penalty, their first of the season. But they were able to kill that off and then get to Ullmark for a pair of goals in 15 seconds.

The first one came at 4:51 on a good keep-in from Zadorov, who got the puck down low to David Pastrnak. Pastrnak dished to Pavel Zacha in the slot and, with an Ottawa defender on him, he did a spin-o-rama and beat Ullmark with a backhander.

On the next shift, Hampus Lindholm took the puck to the net and got off a shot that Ullmark stopped but Justin Brazeau knifed his way into a pile of bodies. He tapped it over to Marchand on the right side and the captain buried it.

The action was up and down for much of the period after that. The B’s had to kill off Zadorov’s 12th minor of the year and had a couple of great scoring chances that never made it the net. Marchand and McAvoy couldn’t connect on a 2-on-1 and there was another 3-on-1 that was botched.

The blown chances came back to haunt when the Sens tied it at 17:16 on what looked like a nothing play. The B’s had players back on an Ottawa rush but the bulky Zadorov threw a flash screen in front of Swayman and Michael Amadio scored on a shortside wrister.

The B’s got a late power play but, dead set against shooting the puck, they didn’t capitalize.

“Our lack of execution on the power play (0-2) was not good enough to generate any kind of scoring chances, right?” said Montgomery. “I don’t know if that fed into the third period and our lack of, for a better choice of words, intensity.”

They started that PP with 15 shots on net and they didn’t get another one until the opening seconds of overtime. But Ullmark had not been lulled to sleep. He flashed his right pad to stop Elias Lindholm’s shot off a Marchand pass and the Sens were off to the races. On his 18th shot attempt of the night, Tkachuk sent Ullmark and the rest of his teammates home happy — and the B’s back into soul-searching mode